Ben Arfa rues missed Marseille chances

Finishing – that, according to Hatem Ben Arfa, was the major difference between FC Shakhtar Donetsk and his Olympique de Marseille side in their UEFA Cup quarter-final tie, the Ukrainian titleholders triumphing 2-1 in southern France on Thursday to advance 4-1 on aggregate.

Missed chances
Marseille took a total of 31 shots in the second leg but only managed to land four on target, with half of those accounting for Ben Arfa's 43rd-minute equaliser, the French international finishing with panache after his initial header had been parried. That was the only goal Erik Gerets's side had to show for 41 attempts over the two games, while Shakhtar produced 18 shots overall, put 12 of them on target and racked up four goals – including Fernandinho's 30th-minute opener at the Vélodrome and Luiz Adriano's last-gasp winner.

Work needed
"We just lacked accuracy and that's something they had plenty of when they scored their two goals," said Ben Arfa. "Someone told me we had something like 25 shots and that's a massive amount, but we only got a couple on target and you have to get your shots on target if you want to score. Otherwise you've got no chance. It's something we're going to have to work on."

Marseille belief
Despite their low conversion rate, Marseille never gave up believing they could turn the tie on its head, not even when Fernandinho left them requiring four goals to progress. "Of course we still thought it was possible," said Ben Arfa. "Last weekend we scored four goals in the second half [against Grenoble Foot 38] and today we could have done the same. Everyone was worked up for this game and everyone wanted to do something special. We gave everything but just weren't able to get a second goal."

Title race
Attentions will now be turned to the Ligue 1 title race, where Marseille lie a point clear of seven-time champions Olympique Lyonnais with seven games remaining. The first of those comes at FC Lorient on Sunday and Ben Arfa speculated that having no more distractions could help the club take their first championship crown since 1991/92. "Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise," he said. "Everything is focused on the league now and I've got faith in this squad. There's a great atmosphere here and everyone's been encouraging everyone else, saying we gave all we had so there's nothing to regret. The squad is very motivated and this match brought us even closer together."